Is SEO Dead in 2021? No, and here’s why…

 

 Orignally published on Affiliate From Home

So, Is SEO Dead?

Short Answer: No SEO is not dead, it is alive, well, and thriving and may always be this way unless search engines like Google decide to make some major changes to their algorithm.

Some methods that were good 5 years ago might now be dead.

But this is the natural cycle of any search engine.

As a way of outlining the natural cycle of SEO, and why people consider it to be dead as a whole, I am going to go over some of the techniques that were once used to get sites to rank highly.

Techniques that are no longer worth your time and are considered to be ‘dead’.

Afterward, I’ll go over some awesome techniques that work in the SEO climate currently that you can steal for yourself and your affiliate sites.

That is of course if you want to see success in affiliate marketing and your niche as a whole…

Could search engines kill off SEO?

I’ve already stated that SEO is going nowhere fast.

Techniques do die out eventually due to Google’s constantly evolving algorithm but new methods always find their way into the spotlight.

Whether they’re black hat or white hat SEO – it doesn’t really matter.

But theoretically, could search engines like Google get rid of SEO altogether?

Well yes, they could.

They could get rid of Organic SEO COMPLETELY if they REALLY wanted to

They could easily replace all of the spots on their SERP pages with paid advertisements instead.

Meaning that organic SEO could be wiped out altogether and you’d have no way as a site owner to get people to your page unless you’ve already built up a loyal fan base over many, many years.

Or of course, if you paid to get your site on one of these top spots.

Though you’d still have social media sites where you could cultivate an audience.

But this isn’t nearly as good as getting people’s attention through answering hot topics that are searched on Google every day.

So if its a possibility, will Google ever get rid of the SEO we know and love?

My guess is probably not.

Although Google is a business, and businesses love money.

I’d imagine SEO’s would completely ditch the search engine in favor of a less known if they were to do this.

Not to mention that Google’s everyday users might make the switch too if they’re bombarded with advertisements all the time.

With this question answered, let’s get into the meat and potatoes of this article…

SEO techniques that were once blooming but now are completely dead.

Is SEO Dead? The old techniques that make people think so…

Having a huge unfiltered link profile

A link profile is essentially a ‘spreadsheet’ of links that are connected to your site.

Whether that’s other websites talking about you on their own blogs or social accounts.

While link building will still help you rank highly on Google, the way you do it has changed slightly.

Before, you would just get links literally from ANY site on the web, and boom

You’d rank highly.

Since Google would just think there are many sites vouching for your content

But Google slowly killed this method off over time.

Instead, you need high-quality links from relevant websites if you still want to see a similar level of success.

Relevant = sites close to your niche

If you do it the old, dead way, your site will be heavily penalized.

Meaning you’ll see negative results instead of positive ones.

So, this strategy isn’t completely dead, but the technique used to make work has changed.

Link building is a great example of how the Google algorithm and SEO as a whole is always changing.

The Number 1 and done SEO method

Many SEO’s think that they need to get to the number 1 spot to see the most traffic coming to their website.

While this is obviously a good strategy, search engines and the people who use them have evolved.

Users are bombarded with advertisements every day of their lives, and they have unconsciously learned how to scrutinize any sort of ‘ad’ they see.

This also goes for the website which comes up on the SERPs.

Web users are no longer just assuming that the number 1 spot has all the information they want or need.

Instead, they are reading what’s in the snippets on the SERP page to make sure the website has what they’re looking for before they click through

Again just like the number 1 ‘dead SEO technique’ above, this isn’t something that is truly dead

Rather it has evolved, sort of like a caterpillar becoming a beautiful butterfly.

So in today’s world, you’re going to want to make sure sites like Google LOVE your website but also the users love it too.

And the way you do that is by showing people you have exactly what they need on your website, through handy and helpful headings, subheadings, and snippets which all can be seen directly on the SERP.

Ultimately, you’re still looking to rank for the number 1 spot, but just because you’re number one, doesn’t mean you can’t make anymore improvements.

Make sure, soon as your potential audience sees you on the SERP page, they will INSTANTLY click your page no questions asked.

Get into the heads of your audience and figure out what they’d want to see as soon as they Google their problem.

This is why I recommend being a part of your niche to make something like this much easier.

Over optimizing for your chosen SEO keyword

Every page and post you make on your blog should have a purpose.

Whether you want it to rank highly on Google or because you just want a great piece of content you can send future clients to.

These pages and posts should have a focus keyword that the content is built around.

But once upon a time, to get ranked for your chosen keyword, you would just spam the word or phrase all throughout the content of the page to ensure that Google would undoubtedly know what keyword you want them to rank you for.

The word might even be in places that would make sense to an actual user.

But the algorithm didn’t care.

Back then, as long as you had your keyword spammed in a wall of text, you’d likely find your site at the number 1 spot.

These days, the process has to be much more elegant if you want to achieve the same thing.

Yes, you still need to put your keyword in your content.

But you can’t overdo it.

Or you’ll negatively impact the page and the rest of your website.

You’re also going to need to add closely linked keywords (semantic keywords) so that your content doesn’t look as stuffed as a Christmas turkey.

In short, you just need to think more about the user and less about what a robot would want from your page.

Focusing 100% on what the bots want

It is no secret that if you show love to the search engine, the search engine will show love back.

Meaning that if you’re doing precisely what it wants you to do, you’ll be rewarded handsomely (in traffic and $$) for your efforts.

But many SEO’s years ago only focused on the search engine.

Forgetting that even if you’re getting a million views a month, there is still an actual human behind the screen clicking through and viewing your site.

And if they’re having a bad user experience, then they are never going to pull out their wallets and enter the digits on that plastic card where all their money magically comes from.

Essentially, you’ll be leaving money on the table if you don’t cater your content towards actual humans.

Now in 2021, things have changed massively.

It’s about user experience as much as it is about doing the right thing for the robots.

The bar has been raised for this sort of thing too.

Users EXPECT to have an awesome experience on your website whenever they visit.

Or they’ll just leave and go elsewhere.

So when you’re doing your own SEO, make sure you consider that a human has to look at it too, not just the mystical bots that Google sends to your website.

SEO tricks that work in 2021

Enough doom and gloom.

I’m now going to talk about some of the SEO tricks that work in today’s SEO climate.

Feel free to take them for yourself and implement them on your own dinky little niche site.

Create high-quality unique content

The main trick to make your website an SEO success is that you are creating high-quality content.

Content that actually serves a purpose to anyone reading it.

Usually, this ‘purpose’ is answering any questions they may have on a particular topic.

Whether that’s answering dog collar questions for dog owners

or advising fat people on how to lose weight.

If you want to see more than just your traffic numbers go up and up, and you want to actually see financial gains too, then it’s a good idea to also promote like crazy on these posts alongside the handy information you’re feeding to your readers.

Product reviews and recommendations are a good start if you want to make money from these popular posts.

You could even create your own digital product to find even more long-term success too.

Create high-quality link profiles

I’ve already touched on link profiles and how important they once were.

As I also stated, you need to now go about it in a different way to see the same level of success.

So that you don’t see your site flop on Google’s SERPs.

I talk more about this in my link-building article.

But essentially the way you go about this is firstly by getting in touch with people in your niche

and letting them know how much you love their content.

And how you think you can add value to their website.

Which of course, they’re going to love since who doesn’t love a bit of ego caressing.

You’ll write content for their site and in return get a glorious backlink.

But don’t just contact website owners.

Links from social accounts like Twitter and Facebook are just as good in 2021.

If not better.

Since Google is falling in love with them more and more.

The process isn’t THIS simple but it pretty much goes like this.

You should seriously check out my other post where I talk more in-depth on link building as a whole.

Run tests to improve CTR

SEO is more about marketing and enticing the audience to click through than it has ever been before.

Once upon a time SEO’s were just writing for search engines and hoping their audience would click on their page simply because they had the number 1 spot.

But now you need to convince people to come to your site, even with great content.

And the way you should do this is by adopting age-old marketing techniques to convince people to click through to your websites.

Such as using catchlines in your titles and informative words in your snippet content.

Now obviously with this last one, you still need to get good spots on SERPs to even begin caring about CTRs.

But once you’ve got a few top spots on Google, testing different techniques to increase the CTR could easily double or triple your income.

Is SEO Dead 2021?: A Recap

Let’s just briefly finish up this article with a recap on what we’ve talked about when we have tried to answer the question “Is SEO Dead in 2021?”

So, again: SEO IS NOT DEAD.

But there are techniques which you could consider to be dead such as:

• Huge spammy link profile
• Overoptimization
• Using the one and done method
• Focusing 100% on what the bots think

Although, as the algorithm changes, so do the techniques which work:

• Creating high quality content is key
• Ensuring you have a great link profile
• Running tests to improve CTR

Overall, SEO is far from dead.

Techniques and strategies are always changing.

So the key to winning with SEO is making sure you’re doing everything in your power to stay on top of every Google update and adopting the best white hat and black hat methods available to you.